Abyss
by Norah Strike
Summary: The Joker murdered her friend, why is there no real justice being done in Gotham? Why won't Batman end Gotham's suffering? She decides to take justice into her own hands. . . By planning to do what Batman should have done years ago. . . O/C.
1. Chapter 1

A second ago, eveything was in its normal, bustling rhythm in Gotham City. A mixture of taxis and cars moved together on the streets and business people who chose not to take that tranportation bustled on the sidewalks. Keevra Avryn and Charlotte Carlyle were on their way to enter Wayne Tech. They had gotten jobs there a few days ago and today was their first day. Charlotte was busily chatting away to Keevra Avryn's ear, something about a Arkham Asylum breakout when the rythm around them broke.

Gun shots fired off out of the blue, bullets found their way to targets, panic immediately raged through like a virus. On instinct Keevra dropped onto the ground, covering her head with her hands. A second later, Keevra looked up to see the source of this madness. And who was in control of this madness?

"Joker," Keevra said.

Keevra watched the Joker parade around the area with a AK-47 craddled in his arms, firing off shots every other step. He was wearing a Arkham Asylum orange jumpsuit and his creepy white face makeup. Beside her body she felt Charlotte's prescence. Good. She wasn't standing up to where she could be hit. Keevra waited for the Joker to turn around before she nudged Charlotte to get up so that they could get away from here.

"Charlotte?" Keevra whispered. "Are you okay?"

Charlotte didn't reply.

"Charlotte?" Keevra repeated, starting to panic.

No reply.

Keevra turned Charlotte over. Keevra choked on air as she saw that her childhood friend, Charlotte Carlyle was dead. Charlotte's terrified chocolate brown eyes stared at her, her mouth opened wide. The bullet that had murdered Charlotte had went right through her heart, killing her instantly. A blossom of blood was expanding on her white blouse. Keevra felt herself trembling in sadness? Anger? Shock? All three? Keevra pulled Charlotte's body into her arms as though she was holding a small child. A minute ago Charlotte had been walking, talking, breathing. . . alive. Now she was dead. All because of that monster, the Joker.

Keevra tried telling herself that this wasn't happening. Charlotte wasn't dead. Keevra was telling herself that this all just a nightmare, she had fallen alseep last night watching the news. This is why she was dreaming all of this. Charlotte was alive. . . she was just sleeping. All Keevra had to do was wake her up. . .

So she slapped Charlotte's cheeks over and over until a voice inside her mind screamed,

_"Charlotte's DEAD!" _

"No. . . "Keevra sputtered over and over again at the voice screaming in her mind. "Get out of my mind!"

_"But she_ is _dead," _voice said to her.

The voice was right. Charlotte Carlyle was dead.

"Oh God. . . This isn't happening. . . Not Charlotte. . . Oh God. . . " Keevra whispered as she felt tears trail down her face. Keevra jumped when she heard a sinister voice above her drawled,

"Hellooooo. Why the long face?"

Towering over her with a knife in his hand was the Joker, his scars smiling at her. The Joker must have ditched the firearm. The Joker waved at Keeva with his knife hand. It was like he was greeting an old friend instead of one of his countless victims. Keevra glared at the Joker. She hated everything about him. She hated his purple and green suit, she hated his twisted scar, and most of all she hated the calmness of his tone.

The Joker knelt down beside Keevra, he put the knife to her throat while he was inspecting Charlotte's corpse. All Keevra wanted to do was pounce him and cause him as much suffering as she could felt right then. After inspecting his handiwork, the Joker stood back up and said with mock-concern,

"Does your friend seem. . . a little dead to you?"

Rage coursed throughout Keevra's body, filling every vain, every cell, every thought in her body. She didn't know until then how much rage existed in this world. Calmly, Keevra placed Charlotte's body off of her lap and onto the cold cement. Keevra stood up, facing the Joker, curling her hands into fists. Keevra was short compared to the Joker, she only came up to the Joker's nose.

"You!" Keevra snarled, her tone dripping with pure hatred. "You did this!" Keevra pointed to Charlotte's outstretched body on the cement.

The Joker pointed to himself on his chest with a finger.

_"Moi?" _The Joker said sarcastically. He held his hands in a-I-didn't-do-it way. "I never laid a finger on her."

"No," Keevra spat. "You killed her."

The Joker just shook his head and turned on his heel, walking away from the scene. Keevra didn't stop him, her thoughts were too scrambled. Before the Joker turned on a corner she heard the Joker called over his shoulder,

"Where's your Batman now?"

The Joker added with a laugh: "HA! HA! HA! HA! HA!"

Keevra dropped to her knees, temporarily defeated by this monster. The Joker had a point though, where _was_ Batman?

**Author's Note: **

**Hey guys! I hope you like the beginning of this story :D **

**Please tell me what you think so far! :D**

**- Norah Strike**

**PS for those of you wondering, don't worry about me not posting the rest of it because it is completely finished I just have to post it :D**


	2. Chapter 2

Three hours later, Keevra was sobbing on the phone to her friend, Garrett Soles.

Garrett Soles and Keevra had met while in Gotham's juvenile detention center six years ago. Garrett had been sent there because he committed arson. He had burned down a comic store with his gang. But he had taken the fall for the crime when he was seventeen years old. He was the only one of his gang to take the fall of their crime.

Keevra had been sent there because she had a mental breakdown that had caused her to attack her classmate with her fists at Gotham Academy. Keevra had been expelled and then she had been sent to juvi, where she had met Garrett after he had defended her against a gang.

"And then what happened?" Garrett asked calmly.

Keevra could sense that he was forcing himself to keep his emotions in check. So that he could keep Keevra from having another mental breakdown, like the one she had six years ago. She had had her first mental breakdown when her eight year old brother, Seth had died in a car accident. Keevra could imagine Garrett in his apartment, laying spread out on his bedroom floor, holding his cell phone to his ear with his right hand, his fingers on his left hand unknowingly running through his thick beard.

Images flashed through Keevra's mind, her memories. Memories of herself shouting threats against the Joker. Threats of "You are going to pay for this!" and "I'll hunt you down if its the last thing I do!" to the open air as he and his cronies walked away from the masacre they had constructed. The image of herself of picking up Charlotte's limp corpse off of the street and carrying her in her arms and walking down the street, her mind whirling with numbness, until the Gotham City Police arrived along with peramedics slammed into her mind's eye.

"Keevra-?"

Garrett's voice brought her out of her memory.

"Then I- I handed. . . "Keevra choked, it felt like her throat was collapsing in on itself. "- Charlotte over."

Keevra wiped her red-hot face with her T-shirt sleeve.

"I'm so sorry, Keevra," Garrett said sincerly. "Is there anything I can do?"

"No," Keevra exhaled as she leaned against the back of her futon in her living room. The coolness of the futon felt good on her body. "He-killed-her-in-cold-blood." Keevra said in one compressed word. "I'm-going-to-make-him-pay."

"What?" Garrett's tone sounded confused.

"The Joker."

"Keevra, what did you say?"

"You heard me."

"I didn't."

"I'm going to kill the Joker."

Before she heard Garrett's reply she clicked the END button her cell phone, hanging up on him. Seconds later, her cell phone vibrated against her right palm. She didn't have to look on the photo I.D. to know it was Garrett calling her back. Keevra didn't feel like she needed to talk to Garrett any longer. She had made up her mind, she wasn't about to let Garrett Soles talk her out of this. Garrett kept trying to call her back. She got annoyed by his persistance, so she chucked her cell phone on the side table next to her futon.

Killing the Joker was something she had to do. For Gotham City. For Charlotte. For herself. Killing the Joker would give her the kind of her closure she deserved. She had to do this. It was for the greater good.

Keevra grabbed her diary that was on the side table. Whenever she was about to do something important she wrote it down. No matter what it was. If it was important it went into the diary. She didn't write much for she knew she had to get to Arkham City before it got too dark outside. Right now it was five in the afternoon. She needed to get going soon.

She placed her diary next to her cell phone (which was still vibrating).

"Dammit Garrett, give it up," Keeva snapped at her cell phone.

She got off of the futon and onto her hands and knees. Reaching underneath the futon she grabbed an old shoebox. She lifted the shoebox and pulled out its content. It was her hand pistol she had bought when she had moved out of her parent's house when she was seventeen. Now, three years later she would be firing it at the monster that had killed her longest friend. Charlotte Carlyle and Keevra Avryn had met in the second grade, they had grown up together and now. . .

She held the pistol in her hands, feeling the weight and the coolness of it on her fingers.

"Justice is about to be served," Keevra muttered to herself as she slipped a round of bullets into the pistol. "Real justice."

She took two extra rounds of bullets and placed them inside her jacket she was wearing. Her black leather jacket had pockets stitched into it.

When she was finished getting her pistol ready for it's first shooting, Keevra walked out of her apartment, closed the door. Outside she walked down to her apartment complex's parking area. She got into her rusty, old Lexus and drove away towards Arkham City.

_"If Batman isn't going to take out the Joker himself, I will do it for him", _Keevra Avryn thought.


	3. Chapter 3

Nightwing was patroling the bounderies of Arkham City. Keevra could see him a mile away in his black and blue uniform, it stood out. If she were Nightwing she would dress the way she was now. She was wearing her black leather jacket, it was zipped midway to reveal a gray V-necked shirt. Her beat-up blue jeans clung to her skin from the October cold. Her feet were getting sore in her crumbling, old tennis shoes. Keevra had abondoned her car two miles away from Arkham City. If the Gotham police came after her for homicide, she wanted her car as evidence that she was not at the scene of the crime. Her car was sitting behind an alley way in Garrett's apartment complex. For some odd reason, Garrett wasn't at his apartment. All of the lights were out. Weird.

The icy cold October wind blew through Keevra's loose hair. She shivered slightly, but continued her way towards the Joker's hideout. The fingers on her left hand clung onto her pistol in her pocket. She felt the cold metal as a reminder to what she was planning to do. She wasn't sure if it was the autumn weather or the fact she was planning murder that made her fingers tremble.

_"Don't think of it as murdering the Joker,"_ the voice in Keevra's head told her. _"Think of it as. . . poetic justice. Lives are going to be saved. . . Starting when the Joker dies. . . "_

Keevra was now a few feet away from Nightwing. She clutched her weapon tighter in her pocket as she started walking passed Nightwing. To her dismay, Nightwing started speaking to her. He blocked her path.

"Where are you going?" Nightwing asked Keevra.

Keevra stopped walking in mid-step. How was she going to talk her way out of this one? Knowing she had no choice, Keevra turned around to face Nightwing. Her heart was pounding in her chest as it beated faster.

"I'm going to pay a visit to an old. . . friend," Keevra lied. Nightwing crossed his arms. His body language clearly signaled that he did not believe her, even saw her lie straight through.

"Uh. . . huh. . . " Nightwing drawled the two syllabels. A moment later after locking eyes with Keevra, he gestured with his left arm towards the heart of Arkham City. "Your friend must be in trouble, huh?"

"Deeper than you can imagine," Keevra replied. She then chide herself for accidentaly dropping her coolness. She had let her rage slip into her tone. Dammit.

"Who's your friend?" Nightwing asked.

For some odd reason, Keevra wanted to trust Nightwing. To tell him about her plan. But then Charlotte's body flashed through her mind once more. Keevra didn't reply. She didn't trust herself to pull off another lie. Nor did she plan to continue talking to this petty excuse of justice. She turned to go, but Nightwing reached out and placed his hand on her left shoulder blade, giving her a gentle squeeze that was ment to comfort her.

"Don't go, where ever it is you are going," Nightwing said softly.

Keevra sighed. She really wanted to get this over this. To put this day behind her. She shrugged,

"It's too late."

Keevra walked away from Nightwing, going towards the Joker's hideout in the heart of Arkham City.

**(NIGHTWING'S POINT OF VIEW)**

"Batman," Nightwing commed his mentor.

A split second later Nightwing heard the familiar voice that was Batman.

"Nightwing?" Batman's version of a greeting.

"I think I'm going to need some backup," Nightwing replied.

"What's your situation?"

"I just saw this girl walk past me."

"THAT'S your situation?!" Batman snarled.

"Hold on," Nightwing said, cutting to the chase. "I saw this ordinary girl. Age is maybe late teens, early twenties. The girl just walked into Arkham City. I thought this odd so I stopped to question her. I asked her where she was going-"

"And?" Batman cut in.

"-And," Nightwing continued. "She said she was visiting a 'friend'. She got this weird look on her face after I asked. So I scanned her pulse. She was lying."

Batman stayed silent.

"Then I did a sweep of the rest of her and in her jacket pocket is an unregistered pistol."

"What direction was she heading?" Batman asked, clearly hanging onto every word Nightwing was saying.

"I put a tracker on her left shoulder. I'll send you her coordinates now."

Nightwing pressed a button on his wrist, a tiny bleep announced that the mysterious girl's coordinates had reached Batman's computer.

Batman's voice said after a moment passed,

"She's heading towards-"

"Joker's hideout," Nightwing finished Batman's sentence.

"I'll be there in five minutes, Nightwing. Wait for me."

**(GARRETT'S POINT OF VIEW)**

"_Dammit. Dammit. Dammit!" _

Garrett cursed under his breath as he made his way to Keevra's apartment. She hadn't answered her cell after she had made her threat against the Joker. At first he had told himself that she would call back, she was just going to bathroom or something like that. But she never called back. Anxiety had taken over him as he desperately tried to reach Keevra. She didn't even reply to the twenty-something text messages he had sent her. So now he had to check for himself if she was still home, safe in her apartment. Another scenario went through Garrett's mind: what if Keevra had forgotten to pay her phone bill on time?

But if she wasn't home. . .

Garrett knocked on her door. No reply. He knocked again. There was no movements in the house whatsoever.

"Dammit Keevra!" Garrett cursed again for the hundreth time.

He reached into his jean's pocket, pulling out his set of keys. He found Keevra's key and unlocked the door. Upon entering his friend's apartment he cursed again for the hundred and first time when he saw that all the lights were out. Garrett bellowed,

"KEEVRA! YOU HERE?!"

There was no reply. His heart sank. This was not good. What if Keevra had ment what she ment? What if she really was planning on killing the Joker tonight? Garrett looked around in Keevra's apartment, just to make sure she wasn't there. Five minutes passed and Garrett was back in Keevra's living room. He sat himself on the futon while he thought what he should do next. Should he call the police? No, Keevra wasn't a criminal. . . yet. Maybe Batman? Big N-O. He glanced down on the side table. He saw a book laying there. Wait, it wasn't a just a book. It was a diary. Keevra's diary. . .

Garrett found a bookmark where the last entry Keevra had written. The entry date was today's date. Maybe it would tell him where she had gone. So he read under his breath,

_"October 13, Friday._

_The Joker murdered you, Charlotte. I can't sit by any longer as he runs free and Batman and the GCPD let him. It's time this city gets real justice, true justice. The justice this city deserves. I'm going to rid this city of evil once and for all._

_-Keevra."_

Garrett dropped Keevra's diary. It landed on the floor with a gentle _flop! _He dropped to his knees and reached under Keevra's futon. He pulled out the old shoebox she had shown him once. She kept her pistol in there for emergencies. Garrett lifted the lid and saw that it was empty. No pistol. No Keevra. Garrett stood back up, his insides tingling. He saw that Keevra's cell phone was on the side table.

The shoebox that kept her pistol hidden was empty. . .

"SHIT!"


	4. Chapter 4

Keevra was so close to the Joker, she could smell his stench at the bottom of the stairs. She had found the Joker's hideout easily. All she had done was point her pistol at two of the Joker's cronies and they spilled everything. Well maybe not as simple as that, it took three bullets to one cronie's chest to get the other one to spill it. In the end though, she still shot the criminal. She might not have seen any wrongdoing from any of them. But still, in her mind if you worked for a murdering man like the Joker, you are almost just as guilty. So she killed them without hesitation.

Keevra checked the amount of bullets she had left in her pistol. She counted two remaining bullets as she walked as quietly she could up the staircase. She was told that the Joker was at the very top.

_"This is going to be for you, Charlotte," _the voice repeated over and over like a mantra in Keevra's mind.

Keevra was no at the top of the staircase. When she saw the room in which the Joker was in she quickly shielded herself from his view by leaning against the wall. The door was wide open. Keevra gave herself a quick glance into the room for a split-second. She saw that the Joker was slouching in a fancy desk chair, behind a great, wooden desk. Windows acted as walls in the room, giving the Joker a view of all of Arkham City. His back was turned towards the glass window-wall. He couldn't see Keevra as she quietly took her chance to sneak up behind him. The pistol felt suddenly heavy in her hand, it was no longer light when she had killed those two men not eight minutes ago. Why was pistol so heavy now? She didn't have to worry about the clicking of the safety, she had done that already when had used it for the first time. All she had to do now was pull the trigger, aim, and shoot. . . Then it would be all over for the Joker. For Gotham City. For Charlotte Carlyle. For herself.

Well maybe she might shoot off a few bullets to his knees before hitting any major internal organs. After all, he had caused her so much pain, the least she could do was return some. Keevra raised her pistol above her head and with all her strength, she backhanded the Joker on his head when she was right behind him. The Joker let out a suprised moan as he hit the floor. He looked up to his attacker with crazed eyes.

"You!" The Joker snarled as he struggled to get up off of the floor.

Keevra was now on top of the Joker, her right knee digging into his chest. Her other knee digging into his manhood. She raised her pistol again.

"I told you I would get you, you scumbag," Keevra snarled as she backhanded the Joker again, harder this time.

The Joker's scar smiled back at her. She saw that the Joker's nose was beginning to swell.

"Didn't think you would."

"You thought wrong," Keevra snarled as she kept smacking her pistol on the Joker's face.

The Joker winced. Keevra dranked his pain, his suffering. It felt good to know that the Joker was suffering as much as she was right now. She felt righteousness course through her veins. It was a feeling she never felt before. It felt thrilling, it made her feel alive. It made her pain ease a little as she smacked Charlotte's murderer over and over and over again. "You killed her."

The Joker laughed his trademark laugh, though Keevra didn't know how he could with his banged-up face. Maybe she wasn't hitting him hard enough. . .

"You'll have to be a little more specific," the Joker laughed.

Keevra dug her fingernails into the Joker's throat as she pulled out a small photograph with her free hand. She shoved the photograph into the Joker's view. It was a photograph of Charlotte Carlyle: she was smiling wide at the camera, the bright sun reflecting on her black-brown hair and her light beautiful, brown eyes.

"Do you know who this is?!" Keevra asked the Joker.

The Joker turned his face away from the photograph of Charlotte Carlyle.

"DO YOU KNOW WHO THIS IS?!" Keevra barked, thrusting the photograph of Charlotte in the Joker's face.

"Yes."

But that wasn't the Joker who had replied it was. . .

"Garrett," Keevra whispered. She felt her hold on the Joker slacken as she turned to face Garrett. His face was pale white, his dark brown eyes screaming concern, his stubble on his face staring at her. Garrett held his hands in surrender as he saw Keevra's pistol pointed in his direction. He took a step closer.

"Keevra. . . you don't have to do this," Garrett said slowly. His tone was as if he was talking to a mental person. Keevra wasn't mental, she was just doing what had to be done.

"I think she does," the Joker interrupted Garrett, then he broke into more laughter.

Keevra turned back to the Joker and smacked him again with her pistol. "Do you think this is a game?!"

Before the Joker could reply, Garrett answered Keevra's previous question,

"Keevra. . . Her name was Charlotte Carlyle. You two were really close friends. . . She died to died today at the age of-"

"Nineteen," Keevra finished, she felt her buzziness start to ebb away as she felt her sorrow cloud her rage.

Garrett nodded. Then in a flash, the Joker slapped Keevra across her face.

"Keevra!" Garrett exclaimed.

Keevra landed on the floor, feeling her face immediately sting from the slap. Rubbing her face, she put her focus on Garrett. She saw him standing there, mouth open.

"Run!" Keevra screamed.

She went to get up, but then the Joker grabbed her on her leg. He dragged her until he was close enough to put her in a headlock. Keevra groaned when she saw that the Joker had her pistol at her skull. The Joker laughed. Garrett was by the doorway now but then he stopped when he saw that the Joker and his hostage.

"This isn't the way I would kill, personally. Under these circumstances, I guess it'll do."

The Joker pointed Keevra's pistol towards Garrett, Garrett turned to run.

"Ahh. . . Not so fast, Gary," The Joker cautioned, pointing the pistol back at Keevra's skull. "You run. . . she dies."

The Joker cocked the pistol. Keevra felt herself tremble. Garrett glared at the Joker. After a moment of an intense staredown between Garrett and the Joker, the Joker released his grip on Keevra.

"Garrett, are you-?" Keevra moaned as the Joker slammed the butt of the pistol against her skull. Keevra went unconscious immediately. The Joker's scar turned up into a grin as he turned his gaze towards Garrett. The Joker never looked away from Garrett as he pointed the pistol on Keevra's unconscious body.

"Come here," The Joker ordered Garrett.

Garrett begrudignly obeyed. The Joker slammed the pistol onto Garrett just as he had done on Keevra Avryn.

"Damn you. . . "Garrett mumbled before falling into unconsciousness.


	5. Chapter 5

Keevra awoke to a unrelenting pounding in her head. The pounding felt worse than the time that Charlotte had accidentaly slammed her Biology textbook on her head back in their Sophmore year of high school. Her mind felt groggy. . . she having a hard time remembering what she was doing. What had happened to her?

Her memories flashed through her mind, playing like an old newsreal. She remembered that she had had the Joker at her mercy when. . . Garrett had walked in.

"Garrett?" Her voice sounded dry, cracked even.

She saw that Garrett had his hands tyed behind his wooden chair, his arms and legs bounded by rope. He was still unconscious. His head lay drooped on his chest.

"Garrett!" Keevra yelled, attempting to wake up her friend with her loud tone. Then, the Joker's voice came seemingly out of nowhere as Keevra tried to untie her bindings.

Garrett groaned in reply. Keevra looked up at one of the corners of the room, staring at a speaker where the Joker's voice was coming from. The Joker's voice ranged out in a song-sing tone,

"Waaakeeey- waaakeeey, Keeeveey and Gaaarrry. If one goes, the other follows."

A click went off from the speaker, signaling that the Joker was done speaking. That was when Keevra noticed the two pistols, one her own, the other she assumed was the Joker's. The two pistols were suspended in midair, held up by a thin string that was connected to Keevra's and Garrett's chairs. She saw that her own pistol was pointed at Garrett. The other pistol was pointed directly to her brain.

"Ah shit. . . " Keevra muttered.

Garrett jolted awake. He stared down at his feet before looking up and asking Keevra,

"Keevra, are you all right?" Garrett asked.

Keevra nodded. "I think so. My head hurts though."

The edges of Garrett's mouth twitched as he replied,

"Join the club, Kid."

Garrett started to wiggle in his seat, causing the rope that connected them both, along with the pistols, to shake. Keevra's eyes widened.

"No!" Keevra screamed. "Don't do that!"

"Why?"

"Look." Keevra tilted her head towards the pistols. Garrett's eyes swelled when he saw the two pistols that were pointed at their brains.

"How are we going to get out of here?" Garrett asked. Keevra could hear a hint of panic in his voice.

"I don't know. Dammit Garrett, you shouldn't have come."

Garrett's eyes narrowed. "You idiot! What would you do if I hadn't?!" He spat.

Keevra inhaled deeply and she breathed out the words: "Justice would have prevailed."

Garrett shook his head. "It would have been murder."

"A life for many _lives_," Keevra pointed out.

Keevra jumped, a little startled as the door slammed open.

"Batman?!" Garrett exclaimed, just as Keevra exclaimed,

"Nightwing?! How did you find us?"

The two superheros walked into the room. She watched Nightwing hold up a device in his right palm. The screen glowed, the only thing Keevra could see on it was a big, red dot in the middle. Nightwing explained the device to Keevra,

"I put a tracker on you, Keevra Avryn."

Batman and Nightwing came closer to the booby trap. After spending a minute studying the booby trap, Batman pulled out his knife and began cutting the rope as Nightwing pointed the two pistols's aim away from Garrett and Keevra. When they had disabled the booby trap safely Keevra said to Nightwing,

"Hey, I never told you my name back there."

"You didn't have to," Nightwing replied. "We overheard the whole thing."

"Of course you did," Garrett said bitterly, massaging his rope-burned wrists.

"Where were you-?" Keevra asked Nightwing.

"Oh, the tracker also has a speaker on it. So Batman and I heard everything you, Garrett, and the Joker talked about," Nightwing explained.

"Cree-eepy," Keevra said, drawling out the word.

Batman turned to Keevra. Under Batman's stare, Keevra felt like she was being X-rayed by his cowled face. He crossed his arms.

"Start explaining," Batman growled to Keevra Avryn.

Before Keevra opened her mouth, the Joker marched into the room, a gleaming knife in his hand. The Joker's smile stared at them all as he said to Batman,

"You see Bats. It seems that I, whoopsies, killed this girl." The Joker held up the photograph of Charlotte in everybody's view. When she saw it, she reached for the photograph. But the Joker pulled it away from her reach. The Joker took his knife and slashed the photograph through Charlotte's face.

"HAHAHAHA!" The Joker laughed as he ripped up the photograph into a million tiny pieces. Keevra watched helplessly as the photograph was ripped up before her. "Ohhh it's good to have Batsy and Nitey and Keevey and Gary and Jokey under the same roof."

"Stand down, Joker," Batman snarled as he pulled out a Batarang.

The Joker didn't pay any attention to Batman, instead he walked closer towards Keevra. Keevra felt her insides tingle, a mixture of rage and fear. He looked her straight in her eyes as he said to her,

"You have a promise to fullfill." The Joker outstretched his arms. His damn scar still staring at her.

"I never break a promise," Keevra whispered.

She looked down at her hand. Without even realizing it, she had raised her pistol. Her pistol was aimed dead center towards the Joker's heart. If she aimed right, the bullet would dive straight into his heart, killing him instantly. But should his death be instant? Maybe she should take her time killing the evil of Gotham City. She pulled the safety off.

"Keevra," Garrett said calmly beside her. "Put the gun down. You don't want to do this."

"Uhhh, I think she does," the Joker cut in.

"Shut up!" Keevra yelled. "Both of you!"

"Murdering the Joker won't bring Charlotte back," Garrett said. Garrett was talking to her like she was a crazy, mental person.

A tear slid down Keevra's cheek. She felt the heat of the tear race down her cheek. She heard a soft ticking-like noise. She looked at her pistol hand and saw that her hand was trembling.

"I don't _want_ to do this, Garrett. I _have _to do this. For Charlotte. . . For all the lives this scumbag has snuffed out without a second thought!"

"Scumbag?" The Joker said in a mock-hurt tone. "You hurt my feelings."

"Charlotte would want me to end this city's suffering."

"By becoming a murderer?" Garrett asked.

"If you pull that trigger Avryn, you will sink down to the Joker's level," Batman said. "Even lower."

"Would Charlotte want that?" Garrett asked gently, taking Batman's side.

Keevra wiped even more tears off of her cheeks with her sleeve. And then it her: Charlotte wouldn't have wanted this to happen. If Charlotte was in Keevra's position she would rather put the bullet into her own brain before taking the life of a person. Even a person as sinister as the Joker.

"No. . . " Keevra's voice trembled. She felt the adrenaline slowly leaking out of her system. She lowered her weapon and turned to face Garrett. He nodded. She saw the relief smack into his face. Then she quickly turned on her heel, planning to strike the Joker one last time, but the Joker caught her hand. He ripped her pistol out of her hand and fired it. The Joker fled the scene, Keevra's pistol still in his hand as he was followed by Nightwing. Keevra let out a cry of anguish as her gaze went to Garrett.

Garrett let out a moan as he fell to the floor, clutching his stomache. Keevra saw blood creeping through the cracks of his fingers. Keevra rushed to his side, kneeling beside him.

"Oh God. . . "Keevra whispered as she saw more and more blood blossom through Garrett's T-shirt.


	6. Chapter 6

Garrett groaned, he looked like he was in pure agony. His body was shaking uncontrollably, creating a soft tapping noise on the wooden floor. The looked of desperation for release shined in his dark, brown eyes.

"Gahk!" That was the sound Garrett made as he opened his mouth in a pitiful attempt to speak.

His breathing was strained, coming out in deep gasps. His left hand fell to the floor. Keevra saw that his palm was covered with his blood. Keevra turned to Batman. She felt herself beginning to panic as she realized the situation had gone completely out of control.

"What do I do?!" She yelled at the superhero, who was just standing there.

Batman pulled out a bandage from his utility belt and handed it to Keevra. Keevra snatched the bandage from Batman.

"Apply pressure on his wound," Batman instructed.

Keevra took Garrett's other hand off of his wound. He groaned more as she did so. She twitched inside.

_"This is all your fault," _said the voice. _"You should have killed the Joker when you had the chance, imbecile." _

Keevra pulled herself away from the voice so that she could focus on keeping Garrett conscious. She pulled up Garrett's shirt and pressed the bandage onto his wound.

"AHHH!" Garrett screamed in agony. "This frikin' hurts!"

Keevra tried to not move Garrett too much as she slowly wrapped the bandage around him.

"I'm sorry. . . It's okay. . . " Keevra tried not to lose more control as she saw that Garrett was starting to shake even more. Keevra turned to Batman, she noticed that Nightwing wasn't back yet. "We need to get Garrett to Gotham General."

Batman nodded in agreement. Keevra glanced back at Garrett and saw that he had closed his eyes. She checked his pulse and after a second, she sighed in relief. "He just passed out."

The door swung open again and Nightwing reappeared. His face was grim.

"The Joker got away," Nightwing announced.

"Dammit!" Keevra exclaimed, throwing her hands up in the air in frustration. She wiped Garrett's blood off of her hands with her T-shirt. She stood up and said to Batman and Nightwing,

"I'm leaving. Take care of Garrett. If he doesn't make it. . . I'll come after you two too. I'll go after the Joker myself since no one in this damn city will."

"I can't let you do that Keevra," Batman said.

"Why not?" Keevra challenged Batman.

"Because you'll fall down with him if, when, you kill the Joker."

Keevra shook her head. "I've already fallen into a hole I can't climb out, Batman. Might as well take that psycho down with me."

With one last glance at her unconscious friend, Keevra Avryn walked out of the room.

Batman just stood there. He knew he couldn't stop her from leaving. She had already made her choice. Nobody would be able to reach Keevra Avryn. Not himself. Not Nightwing. Not even Garrett Soles. Batman had seen the life go out of her blue eyes. The light was replaced by a certain. . . darkness. The old Keevra Avryn had just died in front of him.

"We are justice," Batman yelled down the staircase, where Keevra was half down the steps.

"Justice never prevails," Keevra yelled back.

**THREE DAYS LATER. . . **

Garrett Soles clicked the buttons on his hospital room's TV remote. Absoulutely nothing was on that day. Or at least anything that would get his mind off of Keevra. He kept wondering if his friend was okay, where she was, and how she was doing. He had woken up alone at Gotham General three days ago. His memories of the days before was clouded together, one giant ass blur to him. Then, as he went through the news channel, something captured his attention. He quickly turned up the volume to hear,

"The Gotham City Police Department are puzzled over the death of the notorious gangster, Johnny Ilani. The police say they found Ilani's body in an abondoned alleyway near Wayne Tech, where a few days ago, a massacre led by the Joker killed eleven employees of Wayne Tech. Whether or not the Joker is responsible for Ilani's murder is unidentifiable at this time. Althought a joker card was pinned to the body. The cause of death was under mysterious circumstances. Another news bulletin is the disappearence of Wayne Tech employee Keevra Avryn. She was last seen at the scene of the Wayne Tech massacre that happened on October thirteenth. If you have any information of Avryn's whereabout please call-"

Garrett clicked off the T.V. He had a horrible sinking feeling in his gut. . . and it wasn't from his medicine.

_Mysterious circumstances. . . _

"Keevra," Garrett muttered.

**GOTHAM CITY, OUTSIDE OF WAYNE TECH**

**THREE HOURS AGO. . . **

_"Keevra Avryn is no more," _she told herself as she dug her three inch boot heel into the gangster's throat. The gangster groaned and begged for mercy. She wasn't to give one moment of mercy for this piece of filth called a human being.

_"Now this is real justice," _she thought as she cocked her replacement pistol. This gangster wasn't the Joker, but he would do. . . for now.

She fired the pistol and she saw the life go out of the gangster's eyes immediately.

"Bye- bye," she said to the corpse.

She took a joker card out of her jacket pocket and placed it on the gangster's body. One day, the Joker would die by her hand. One day, she will become strong enough to end Gotham's suffering. One day, she will avenge Charlotte Carlyle. She heard police sirens in the distance. Oh well. Maybe executing the gangster by Wayne Tech wasn't the brightest idea. But she wasn't afraid of being hauled away to jail, she knew she was doing good work.

_For Charlotte. . . _

She had felt empty and colder than death since Charlotte's death. But this kill, her third kill, made her feel slightly whole again. She breathed the cold, autumn air into her lungs, feeling the rush she had received from this kill. The kill fueled her unlike any energy drink she had consumed in her life.

She wore no mask. She wore no war paint. Nor any ridiculous costume. She wasn't afraid of her true identity showing.

Keevra Avryn was no more. . . Abyss had arrived to take her place.

**THE END**

**Author's Note:**

**Hope you have enjoyed this fanfic :D**

**Special thanks to the readers AND the reviewers.**

**Believe or not, I got the idea to write this from a really, weird dream I had XD**

**- Norah Strike**


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